With Emery's current power level, tier 1 spells were of no worry to him at all. Besides, it was one of the spells Emery had the most experience with, so he could tell the strength of the spell by monitoring the flow of spirit force within the vines.
The spellcasting speed was also slow and the root's movements were nothing to write home about, but Emery was unwilling to show off his cards right away. He casually jumped up and landed right as the root passed his feet.
Two more roots approached him from the side, attempting to trap him in a pincer formation. Their movements curved every so often to catch him off guard.
Still, too slow.
Woosh!
Emery did a few side steps and gracefully dodged the incoming roots.
The prince looked at Emery's movements with surprise. As a precaution, he pulled his sword from its scabbard and prepared his sword stance.
"He is very agile… he must be an assassin!"
Emery stared at them without worry, waiting for their next move. He hasn't even used much of his strength to dodge, as due to his plant elemental affinity, he knew the ins and outs of plant spells far too well.
Then a root appeared under his feet, catching him off guard. But Emery was still able to dodge easily, as he felt the flow of spirit force from it.
It appeared that, ever since he returned from the Magus Academy and started studying in the Khaos space, he not only gained a better understanding of space magic, but also a better feel of the spirit force's movements in his surroundings.
He didn't need to see it to know when the root started to move towards him.
Seeing how easily someone was dodging his spell, the old magician became worried. "My prince! This guy is more dangerous than I thought. I suggest you quickly return to the castle, I will hold him here!"
"No! Gaious, I definitely won't just leave you alone with him!"
From what he was able to glean from the spirit force flowing in the roots, Emery believed the old man was at most comparable in terms of power to a rank 5 acolyte. His strength was about the same level, as when he just got out of the Khaos space last year.
At most, probably he would only be able to cast up to tier 3 spells.
Now that he got an accurate gauge of his opponent's strength, Emery started to increase his movement speed. Though he was more than willing to stall, right now fighting for too long would just invite more trouble later on.
Emery decided to go on the offensive. He pulled out a small pitch black dagger dotted with white, each spot sparkling like a piece of the night sky. He charged forward, aiming to disable the magician first.
The golden prince dashed and jumped between them, parrying Emery's pitch black dagger with his special sword.
Clank!
Sparks flew between them and Emery was able to push the prince several steps away. He was quite surprised by the sword held by the prince that was able to block the strength of his tier 3 dagger. Meanwhile, the prince's face twisted into an expression of pure shock.
"Gaious, be careful, he's not just fast, he's awfully strong. Who is this guy really!"
Arthur twirled his sword and took a fighting stance, while shoving the magician behind him in a protective manner.
The prince certainly did not expect to see someone with power similar to a golden knight attacking them here. There were only two explanations for this mysterious attacker – either he came from the north, or he came from outside Briton.
Emery stopped for a moment and said.
"Just tell me where the girl is! What did you do to her?!"
The prince gripped his sword tight and dashed forward.
"You stand down and tell me who you really are!"
The longer this fight went on, the more Emery lost his patience. Now that he thought things through, he should've just taken the prince hostage and with the prince's life in his hand, the path would open up to him. There was no need to waste time and spirit force in this farce.
But, it seemed that life was determined to throw him curveballs in his quest. The golden prince raised his sword high with both hands and a bolt of energy rose from the blade before entering the prince's body.
Arthur's eyes turned white and in an instant, a gust of wind accompanied the intense glare of his spirit force. Considering the form, this power increase must've come from a divine blessing.
Emery dashed forward, charging towards the prince, while the prince met his attacks in earnest.
Clank!
Both the prince and Emery were thrown back a few steps at the same time. This genuinely caught Emery off guard, as he did not consider the fact that Arthur could match his 34 points of battle power.
Amazing.
The cool night air started to boil hotter and Emery glanced at the old magician.
So, the attacks from the prince were a distraction.
Both of the old magician's palms blazed with orange-gold fire. He clapped both hands, causing the fire to merge together before dashing towards him like a bullet.
[Firebolt]
The strike was too fast to dodge, or at least, too fast in his current state. Emery decided to take off his black cape and toss it to the front, letting the garment be set ablaze and turn into ashes in a few seconds.
The fire was probably similar in power to one of Gerri's regular attacks in the Magus Games. It was strong, but not nearly enough to wound.
Nevertheless, Emery couldn't risk anything.
The two opponents had an almost flawless coordination. Now that he lost the element of surprise Emery would have had to face a dual element magician and a golden knight with a divine buff.
This battle would not be as easy as he thought, after all.